I think that Russia was like a lot of other countries, a lot of empires, in being a tyranny up until the… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
When I was touring with my Vladimir Putin biography, which was published all over the world, people would ask me, How come… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
I think some people have blind faith in American institutions without knowing a whole lot about them and think they will stand… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
Any country is either becoming more democratic or less democratic. I think the United States hasn't tended to its journey toward democracy… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
I don't have a lot of hope for Russia when Putin goes, because I think that the kind of damage that has… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
There's not a whole lot of similarity between the two societies, Russian and American. There are similarities behind psychological forces. One thing… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
Were there open gays and lesbians before the West started influencing Russia? No, there weren't. In fact, the most out person in… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
Conceit of the anti-gay law in Russia is to protect children, then the people who have the most to fear are LGBT… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
For Russians in the '90s, there was that sense of not knowing what the future held at all. And coming off a… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
There's this American pretense, which is the pretense of the journalist with the view from nowhere - which has somehow morphed into the journalist… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
Pussy Riot have certainly changed some people's assumptions about the role of political art and the relationship between the intelligentsia and the church. That's… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
Trump, like Putin, has a demonstrably thin skin and short temper when it comes to being criticized by journalists. — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
You risk everything if you so much as join a legal protest demonstration in Russia. It raises the stakes. — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
Donald Trump creates word salads. And that is awful to language, because we try to parse out what he's saying and try to find… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
It is the first time since 1993 that Russians have come out into the streets without an explicit permission from the government to do… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
I think Donald Trump was brought to power by Americans. They voted for him. — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
In the 1990s, there was a lot of reform, and there was a lot of forward movement on a lot of fronts in Russia.… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
Poverty and scarcity are actually very good for totalitarian societies. They maintain that sense of mobilization that's essential for totalitarian societies. — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
I think that Putin's strategy has been throwing a lot of money, fairly haphazardly, at a lot of projects aimed at disrupting Western relations… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
Both Trump and Putin use language primarily to communicate not facts or opinions but power: it's not what the words mean that matters but… — Masha Gessen Copy Share Image
